Guides

Guide to progressing in Pokémon Rumble Rush

Learn how to progress quickly in Pokémon Rumble Rush! How to use Gears and which Ore you should refine is covered here.

Pokémon Rumble Rush is the newest Pokémon title on mobile, and the latest in the Pokémon Rumble series. This free-to-play game features microtransactions – but with some patience and management of your resources and time, you can advance fairly quickly in this game without spending anything! In this guide we’ll go over the basics and offer tips on how to manage your Gears, Ores, and Pokémon.

The basics

Gameplay

Tap to attack, hold to charge, and swipe to dodge.

The gameplay in Pokémon Rumble Rush is fairly simple, and even more so than other Pokémon Rumble titles. Your Pokémon will automatically run towards enemies and attack. You can tap to attack manually, hold and release for a charged attack, or swipe to roll out of the way.

Charge attacks are worth doing. You can deal over three times the usual damage with a charge attack, depending on the move your Pokémon knows.

Summon Gears can be used to do a special move from a supporter Pokémon. KO’ing five Pokémon will fill up the Summon attack gauge – so if you’re fighting a boss, consider taking down its helpers throughout to recharge your Summon attack. Some rarer Summon Gears may require more KOs to be charged up, such as Charizard’s.

If your Pokémon is knocked out, you lose the level. You can switch Pokémon anytime during a map, but cannot reassign Gears mid-map.

Progression loop

The general progression loop is as follows:

  • Do levels, and obtain Pokémon from the map. What you get is essentially random.
  • Redo maps containing Pokémon you want (e.g. Water types to take on a Fire-type boss) to find a stronger one.
  • Power up chosen Pokémon further through Gears.
  • Satisfy requirements to take on Area Boss.
  • Defeat boss, and unlock a new one.

Every boss has a Combat Power (CP) requirement. You need to have a Pokémon with a high enough CP to be able to take on the boss. Later in the game you will have to use Gears to be able to reach this. Other requirements can involve catching different species of Pokémon, or a particular species or type.

Additionally, there are tournament maps you can attempt once a day. These are essentially a boss gauntlet mode.

Levels are selected by clicking on the map. You can redo any of the last three maps you have beaten as well – any new levels started will replace the oldest one you have done. This is somewhat random, but you can see what Boss Pokémon occupy maps from other players before selecting. You need to use a feather to explore a new map. You have a chance to get one (rarely two!) feathers after beating a map.

There are coins (given in units of P), which can be used for upgrading Gears. There are also Diamonds, primarily used for refining Ore.

Getting stronger Pokémon

Obtaining Pokémon

You can view your new Pokémon at the end of a level, and see what move – and how many slots – they have. As they stare into your soul…

The only way to obtain controllable Pokémon is to knock out those you encounter. Their CP is random, but will be within a range that depends on how far you have progressed in the game (or essentially, how many bosses you have defeated). Even bosses can drop, but this is not common.

You can increase the ‘Catch Level’ of a species of Pokémon by catching more of them. You get a notification of any Catch Level increase at the end of each level. This means it can be more beneficial to grind on unevolved Pokémon than hoping for a strong Boss to appear. A Catch Level gives an extra CP each.

Pokémon with sparkles will be obtained when defeated. When a Pokémon gets dizzy (stars appearing above its head as it wobbles on the spot), an attack that knocks it out will ensure you obtain it as well. 

You can only hold so many Pokémon at a time. Transferring Pokémon will earn you one coin (or 1P) each.

Attacks are key as well. Each have a star rating, with moves with a 4-star rating contained in a golden Poké Ball. Such Pokémon can also have a greater CP than the area maximum, but are very rare! These are required for getting a high ranking and having an easier time of the later Area Bosses.

Gears

Each Pokémon can have two or three slots – one for a Summon Gear, and either one or two for Power Gears. Gears are used to power up your Pokémon. You can also upgrade them via Upgrade Kits – each one is specific to the type of Gear.

As mentioned, there are two kinds of Gears, with each able to be levelled up via Upgrade Kits:

  • Power Gears – these boost the stats of your Pokémon. The most important are [Type] Move Plus Gears (e.g. Water Move Plus Gears). These increase the CP of a Pokémon by 30 at level 1, provided they know a move of the same type. An additional 10 CP boost is granted for each additional level the Gear has. For instance, a Ponyta with Flame Wheel will have an additional 50 CP with a level 3 Fire Move Plus Gear. A Ponyta with Stomp will not get a CP increase with this gear, but will with a Normal Move Plus Gear.
  • Summon Gears – these summon a support Pokémon with a corresponding Attack (e.g. Quick Attack Rattata). These are vital to achieve victory against Boss Pokémon. Summon Gears are rarer.

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You also can only hold so many Gears at a time. Transferring a Gear will give you three Upgrade Kits.

Ores

Ores are the only way to obtain Gears, and also provide money. You can hold three at any time, and can only refine one at a time (without purchasing, that is). Thus they act like a time gate on progress. You can speed up the refining process by using Diamonds, or a Refining Ticket.

There are three kinds of Ores:

Ore Time to Refine Summon Gears Power Gears Money
Normal 30 minutes 0-1 1 500P
Unusual 3 hours 0-1 13 2,500P
Rare 10 hours 2 44 7,500P
The refinary. You can only work on one Ore at a time, but hold up to three. Hi, Magnemite.

Rare Ore is the most valuable kind – and the most useful, despite the large amount of time it takes to refine one. Focus on it and Unusual Ore, with any normal Ore used to fill in any time you have. If you refine two Rare Ore, one Unusual Ore and two normal, you’ll fill up 24 hours exactly!

Ores give a lot of a specific Move Gears based on the map you do. In the above image, the Rare Ore will give a lot of Bug Move Plus Gears, as it came from a map with a Bug-type Boss. The other two Ores came from maps with Water-type bosses, and so they will provide Water Move Plus Gears. If you want to progress quicker, focus on one type of map! Water and Fire are ideal for now given the rare Blastoise and Charizard Summon Gears, if you are lucky enough to get them.

Additional tips

  • Once you progress past the tutorial, you can lock one map out of the three you have done previously. Select the lock icon on the top left of the map summary. This prevents it from being removed if you do a new map.
  • If you want to progress through the game faster, focus on upgrading a single type of Gear, such as a “Fire Move Plus” or “Grass Move Plus” Gear.
  • You get three Refining Tickets a day as a log-in bonus (six every seven days). Use them wisely! We suggest using your three Daily ones on an Unusual Ore, or saving a bunch on Rare Ore, to open them up at once. Regular Ores contain less Gears and so are worth less.
  • You cannot hold more than 10 Refining Tickets at a time. Use them before you reach ten the next day!
  • Refine Rare Ores (10 hour waits) overnight when you’re not going to play.
  • Sometimes rare Pokémon can be found near the positions of related (or the same) Area Bosses.
  • Upgrade Gears as you get them! Send spare ones away for Upgrade Kits.
  • Use Summon Gear attacks right up close to a boss to inflict the most damage, as well as try to wipe out any minions to recharge your Summon attack straight away! You can also move and make use of a brief invincibility during the Summon attack.
  • If you are going to pay, then invest your Diamonds into refining Rare Ores. You will also get coins back from the process, and speed up your progression.
  • Every two weeks you will be rewarded Diamonds based on your position on the leaderboard. This depends on the CP of your three strongest Pokémon. Make sure to get different species of strong Pokémon! Only one of each species counts to the top three. Gears will not increase the CP used to calculate your score.
  • Don’t forget to do your daily Tournament! You can get 5,000 coins from even the easiest mode, and up to 20,000 from the hardest mode.
  • Defeating five or more Pokémon at a time earns you more money.

Have a helpful tip of your own for Pokémon Rumble Rush? Let us know in the comments!

Edited by Aldo, Rabinov and Sheep.
Extra tips provided by Me.